He's A Different Man On The Weekends Wayne Vince Changes From A Car Dealer To An Offshore Powerboat Racer

July 03, 1986|by CHRIS LINDSLEY, The Morning Call

Wayne Vince is not your typical owner of a car dealership. While he puts in his hours at Phillipsburg- Easton Honda during the week, on weekends he puts on his life vest and takes his life in his own hands.

Vince is an offshore powerboat racer.

One might think it would be logical for Vince to satisfy his competitive urges racing cars. But the former professional motorcycle racer had other things in mind.

"One of the reasons I never got into car racing was that after racing motorcycles, car racing seemed almost safe," said Vince, a father of four. "But powerboat racing was something different, not everyone does it, and the high speeds make it exciting."

Vince said his boat - Triple Threat, a 30' Shadow Catamaran powered by three 290 horsepower Mercury 2.4 liter outboards - has reached speeds approaching 100 mph, which is almost as fast as his top competition in the Pro Stock Class are capable of going.

But pure speed and success are not one in the same, and no one knows that any better than the native of Bloomsbury, N.J..

After two years of getting his feet wet in his new hobby, Vince , along with throttleman Bill Wright, navigated Triple Threat to a surprising victory in his class of the Southwest Florida Nissan 150 on May 17 - despite starting the race 100 yards behind.

The Nissan 150, because it was Vince's first national Pro Stock event, meant that under American Powerboat Association rules, he faced a 100-yard handicap for safety reasons.

And while 100 yards may not seem like much to make up in a 135-mile race, Vince said it made his job that much harder.

"To make up 100 yards is a lot," Vince said. "Recently (at the DePertro Classic run on Tom's River in New Jersey) we took second place to a boat that beat us by 50 feet after 100 miles of racing."

During his first two seasons he raced in NationalPowerboat Association sanctioned events, which, despite its name, held races mainly on the East Coast. Vince finished fourth in the NPBA point standings a year ago, but he is planning to compete on a more national basis this season.

Thus he entered the APBA race off the Florida coast, and the early signs indicate that he's equal to the challenge. In addition to winning his class, he finished second overall in the competition, which included competitors from the other three offshore powerboat classes - Open, Modified and Sportsman.

Boats in the Open Class are capable of reaching speeds of 140 mph on a calm day, but with 2-4 foot waves during the race, Vince was able to defeat many boats he couldn't compete with under normal conditions.

"We were thrilled not only to win," Vince said, "but to know that our boat was more seaworthy in rough water than the other boats."

But it was the boats he bested on his way to the Pro Stock title that meant the most to him. Both Long Shot, the course record holder, and What-A- Package, recognized as the fastest boat in the class, were the favorites going in, but Vince said he knew his time would come.

"I'm surprised it took us this long to get dialed in," Vince said. "It was more a matter of us expecting a victory than anything else. We figured it would just be a matter of time before things clicked."

As is the case in most other sports, practice makes perfect in offshore racing, and until Vince turns his hobby into a full-time pursuit, which he hopes to do eventually, he will always be an underdog.

"There's no doubt that competing just on weekends makes it harder for us," Vince said. "Every time you race you learn something you're doing wrong or that could improve the boat's performance, and so the more you're in the water the more you learn."

And the more chance you have to get hurt. Crashesin offshore races often are of the highlight-film variety, with boats flipping over and serious injuries being a common occurance. In his last race, a boat in Vince's class flipped over, its driver forced to have a leg amputated as a result.

But Vince is not about to leave offshore racing out of fear. "Sure, I'm concerned about my safety, but what it all comes down to is using your common sense." A trait that, whether in business or in racing, is likely to bring him additional success in the future.